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| Friday, June 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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SA coach named in match-fixing CAPE TOWN, June 8 — The name of South Africa’s national cricket coach was drawn into the country’s worst-ever sporting scandal today in testimony before a commission investigating match-fixing allegations. CBI may question
Kapil again Martinez, Pierce in final Mankad may get nod for Davis Cup Hike likely in sportsmen’s
job quota
Full stadiums promised at Euro 2000 |
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Confusion in SAI centre Olympic torch in Australia
Matthaus aggravates injury
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SA coach named in match-fixing CAPE TOWN, June 8 (AP) — The name of South Africa’s national cricket coach was drawn into the country’s worst-ever sporting scandal today in testimony before a commission investigating match-fixing allegations. Test bowler Derek Crookes testified that coach Graham Ford was party to some unusual tactical decisions during a tour of India earlier this year. Crookes said after the first one-day international on the February tour of the subcontinent, he had discussed his bowling with team captain Hansie Cronje and Ford “and it was decided I would not open the bowling at any point during the rest of the series.” However, Crookes said the day before the last game of the tour on March 15, Ford told him he would be opening the bowling. Ford took over as coach from Bob Woolmer late last year. “I was surprised,” Crookes said, adding he saw nothing sinister in the move, since he had frequently opened the bowling for his province. “Hansie said we had nothing to lose, so let’s try something different.” Media reports from India said the police had taped a conversation Cronje had with a bookmaker which referred to the unusual bowling lineup to be used in the game. Crookes did open the bowling against India and was hit for more than 50 runs in his opening six overs — a very high score. Crookes told the commission that when he read about the tapes, he had questioned why he was chosen to open the bowling in the match. The investigative commission was set up after Cronje admitted taking $8,200 from a bookmaker for match information unrelated to the tour of the subcontinent. Cronje, who is expected to testify later in the hearings, has denied ever being involved in match fixing. His confession came in April after Indian police accused Cronje and teammates Herschelle Gibbs, Nicky Boje and Pieter Strydom of fixing matches during the tour of the subcontinent. The commission, which opened its hearings yesterday, is scheduled to present interim findings by the end of June. Some 45 people have been subpoenaed to give evidence. Cronje is yet to attend the hearings. In his testimony today, Crookes also recounted how Cronje had approached him in 1996 and told him the team had been offered $250,000 to lose a game against India. Crookes said he was amazed Cronje had mentioned the offer to him and that he was completely opposed to accepting it. At a meeting before the match, the team decided to refuse the bribe. Yesterday, former cricketer Pat Symcox testified that Cronje managed to get an extra $100,000 added to the $250,000 offer. But the team never accepted it. Symcox also said Cronje had approached him in 1995, asking how he felt about a cash offer made to the team to lose a match against Pakistan. Symcox said he rejected it. Retired judge Edwin King, who is leading the commission, refused today an application by media organisations to allow them to broadcast the proceedings live. “Having regard to the possible adverse effects on witnesses, the presence of the media is not desirable,” he said. |
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CBI may question Kapil again NEW DELHI, June 8 (PTI) — The CBI will decide whether to question Kapil Dev only after re-examining former cricket team manager Ajit Wadekar and cricketer-turned-commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu next week, agency sources said here today. Wadekar and Sidhu, who will be re-examined some time next week by the agency, had appeared before the CBI last month and reportedly disputed the allegation made by former allrounder Manoj Prabhakar that Kapil Dev had offered him a bribe of Rs 25 lakh to play below his potential during a tie with Pakistan in 1994. Dev has denied the allegations. The sources said examination of Kapil Dev would be possible if these two corroborated what they had told to Prabhakar on video tapes. The former Test cricketer had secretly shot his conversation with several players and board officials over a period of time. He submitted the tapes to the agency on June 3. They said another cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri was also likely to be called by the agency as he was the only person who had supported the statement of Prabhakar. Meanwhile, attempts to reach Kapil Dev failed as he was not available for his comments. However, before leaving for Bangladesh to participate in the Asia Cup, Dev had said that he would co-operate with the agency. The two had been examined by the CBI earlier last month in connection with the match-fixing scandal and both had reportedly denied the allegations of bribery made by Prabhakar against Kapil Dev. The sources said Singh and Wadekar, in their deposition before the agency, denied that they were aware of the allegation made by Prabhakar that Kapil Dev had offered him money. The viewing of nine video tapes by the special crime branch of the CBI was completed and these would now be handed over to the legal cell of the agency to examine whether they could stand scrutiny in a court of law. |
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Martinez, Pierce in final PARIS, June 8 (AFP) — Conchita Martinez ripped up the form book and turned the tables on fellow Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, winning 6-1 6-2 today to reach the women’s singles final at the French Open According to Reuters, Mary Pierce stunned top seed and doubles partner Martina Hingis 6-4 5-7 6-2 today to reach her second French Open final. She will face Spanish fifth seed Conchita Martinez on Saturday as she bids to become the first French woman since Francoise Durr in 1967 to win her home grand slam tournament. A finalist in 1994, Pierce dominated her match from the start with powerful groundstrokes. World number one Hingis saved a match point in the second set and squared things at one set all but Pierce came back with some stunning returns to break her three times in the decider to clinch victory. The French Open is the only Grand Slam title still eluding Hingis, a losing finalist in Paris in 1997 and 1999. Martinez reached only the third Grand Slam final of her career — and her first in 13 appearances at Roland Garros. “It is like a surreal dream for me,” said Martinez. “It is one of the happiest moments of my life.” Fifth-seeded Martinez will now play either top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland or sixth-seeded Mary Pierce of France in Saturday’s final. Hingis is aiming to make her third final here — but has yet to win the title — while Pierce made the 1994 final before losing to Sanchez-Vicario. Martinez played solid, occasionally aggressive tennis as she scored only her fourth win in 17 career matches against her more illustrious compatriot — a six-time French Open finalist and three-time winner. Martinez, 28 had not beaten Sanchez-Vicario in seven matches against her Fed Cup team-mate since 1995. “I prepared for this match down to the very last detail,” she said. “She had won so many tight matches against me — but today I was mentally stronger. “Now I’m in the final I have a great desire to win Roland Garros. It’s been a fantastic year and I’ve worked really hard to get this far.” It was a match characterised by loose service games and high looping top-spin forehands from both players. The crowd became annoyed by the long “moonball” rallies between the pair — occasionally whistling in disgust. Martinez held serve from 0-40 in the first game and then broke to take a 2-0 lead, saving a break point again to go 3-0 in front. Sanchez-Vicario eventually held for 1-3 but Martinez broke again for 5-1 with the aid of a mis-hit and a double fault and then served out for the set in 35min. Martinez kept the ball deep and went for more winners, and she broke again in the first game of the second set before holding for 2-0. Once Martinez hit the front, however, she tightened briefly and Sanchez-Vicario broke back to love for 2-2. Martinez gathered her wits, however, breaking straight back — and Sanchez-Vicario was on the ropes as error after error flowed from her racket. |
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Mankad may get nod for Davis Cup NEW DELHI, June 8 — Leander Paes’ wrist injury may brighten Harsh Mankad’s Davis Cup hopes as he is learnt to be on top of the list of the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) for inclusion in the cup squad. Chairman of the selection committee Shyam Minotra told The Tribune that Harsh Mankad’s name was very much in the reckoning for selection as he was “doing well”. But Mr Shyam said the fifth player in the Davis Cup team would be announced only after watching a couple of tournaments in the ongoing ITF satellite series. “Harsh Mankad is on top of the list”, he disclosed. Dr Vece Paes, in a letter to the AITA, has said that it would take more than two months for Leander to recover from the wrist injury he suffered in the French Open. The injury very definitely rules him out of India’s world group Davis Cup play-off tie against Sweden, to be held at Staad (in Sweden) from July 21 to 23, and perhaps from the Olympic Games at Sydney, too. In the absence of Leander, the Davis Cup team is left with only four players — Mahesh Bhupathi, Prahlad Srinath, Syed Fazaluddin and Vishal Uppal. With Mahesh Bhupathi also not hundred per cent fit, as he is playing only the doubles now, the AITA selectors want to inject some young blood, keeping an eye on the future, and according to Mr Shyam’s estimation, Harsh fits the bill perfectly. When asked about the chances of including national hard court champion Sunil Kumar from Chandigarh in the Davis Cup squad, Mr Shyam observed that “Sunil still has a long way to go, as he is immature, and he has to work very hard to improve his game”. Sunil was in the Davis Cup squad when India played at Lucknow early this year. Delhi Tennis Association secretary Anil Khanna, who is tipped to take over as the new secretary of the AITA during the elections in September, said “Leander’s absence will be a very big handicap, as Mahesh is also not playing to his potential”. Mr Anil Khanna said Leander would also be a non-starter for the Olympic Games “as I don’t think he can recover from his injury before that”. Meanwhile, Mr Anil Khanna admitted that he was very much in the running for the secretaryship of the AITA. “That’s the general wish (of the members of the association)”, he said. Union Finance Minister Yashwant Singh is all set to step into the shoes of Mr R.K. Khanna as the president, while Mr Khanna himself may be elevated as the life president. |
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Hike likely in sportsmen’s
job quota GURGAON, June 8 — The Haryana government is contemplating increasing the quota in jobs for
sportsmen, according to the Deputy Speaker of the state assembly, Mr Gopi Chand Gehlot. Mr Gehlot, who is also the president of the Haryana State Volleyball Association, said here today that besides increasing the quota of jobs, the government is also considering a proposal to provide a number of concessions to sportsmen. They include free travel and subsidies on
other fronts. Mr Gehlot, who was here in connection with the preparations for the 25th Haryana State Volleyball championship (men and women), that gets underway here tomorrow, lamented the falling standards in the state. According to him, Haryana was once in the vanguard in volleyball but due to lack of support from the government the standard declined. Incidentally, the state championship is being held for the third time in Gurgaon. As many as 20 teams in the men’s section and 15 teams in the women’s section are expected to take part in the championship. Besides teams from the state police, Haryana
Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN), Haryana Agriculture University and Sports School, Rai, will also take part in the tournament. |
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Full stadiums promised at Euro 2000 BRUSSELS, June 8 (AP) — The organisers promised full stadiums throughout Euro 2000, with 97 per cent of all tickets sold for the 31 games and, after a lackluster buildup, the host cities started hopping with anticipation yesterday. “It was a dream ... it’s a challenge, now it’s a reality,” said tournament director Alain Courtois. Persistent concerns over stadium safety and the growing threat of hooliganism continued to dog organisers as they tried to stay focused on the game itself. Two known British soccer hooligans were turned away from the Netherlands after attempting to enter the country for the June 10 to July 2 championship. In Belgium, the Justice Ministry announced that about 150 prisoners who were charged with minor offences will be sent home for the duration of the tournament to make room for hooligans. The Netherlands has similarly released prisoners who have only short periods left in their sentences. The tournament will be hosted in eight cities, four in the Netherlands and four in Belgium. The preparations to bring the stadiums up to the standard started four years ago and were completed last year. Despite this, safety concern around the Charleroi Stadium continue to hound Euro 2000. Last minute calls to move the highly publicised match between England and Germany away from the southern Belgian city were put to rest by Mr Courtois. “Game 14 of the tournament will be in Charleroi — is that clear for everyone?” Mr Courtois said. The police fear the game will attract hooligans from both countries and make the former industrial city of 200,000 a battleground. The organisers have gone to great lengths to prepare a sound security policy to deal with any potential trouble makers, but admit that problems cannot be ruled out. “Things will go wrong, but we will try to fix them,” said tournament co-director Harry Been. Both the Belgian and Dutch Governments have put their reputations on the line by ensuring that potential trouble makers will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Police forces numbering 40,000 in each country will be put into use as a precaution. New laws especially drawn up for Euro 2000 were passed to deal with black market ticket sales, as well as a special quick justice procedure to bring arrested hooligans to a speedy trial was also approved. Euro 2000 organisers were worried early on that the governments were not doing enough to help them with the security issue, but are now content that these measures have been taken. “We’re talking about millions of people who love football. We were worried 3,500 crazies could ruin the party,” said Dutch Football Association President Jeu Sprengers. Initial lukewarm public response to the hosting of Euro 2000 was steadily catching fire across the two nations. In the Netherlands, the police arrested the first Dutch soccer fan in eastern Enschede after he painted his entire rental home orange and the sidewalk red, white and blue. Local authorities were called to the scene by concerned neighbours, the owner of the building said. In Brussels, hundreds of children and soccer fans alike swarmed to the Grand’ Place to sign 17 giant soccer balls that have been traveling around European capitals to collect autographs of well-wishers. Brussels’ King Baudouin Stadium will host Saturday’s opening game as well as four other games. “It was 20 years since I last played, but the feeling of anticipation is still there,” said Belgian soccer legend Jan Ceulemans before he too signed the soccer ball. Ceulemans starred for the Red Devils in a record 96 games. “We’re on schedule, we sold the tickets, the stadiums are ready ... let’s get down to football!” said Mr Been. |
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Confusion in SAI centre CHANDIGARH, June 8 — With various schemes of the Sports Authority of India hanging fire and delay in announcing decision, confusion prevails in the regional centre, Sector 42. Meanwhile, Chandigarh is to have a new sports science centre at sports complex, Sector 42 the approval for which was given by the Union Minister for Sports, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. The centre is to have facilities for testing, programmes in sports psychology, sports medicine, anthropometry, bio-mechanics, nutrition and general theory and methods of training along with recreational facilities. A sum of Rs 25 lakh has been approved for the centre. This centre would cater to the various national coaching camps and the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. A similar centre is already functional at NIS, Patiala supposed to be one of the finest sports sciences centre of India. But it is starved of funds as most of the money is spent on administrative costs. The decision to open a centre so near Patiala will not be of much utility as all the national coaching camps are held either at Patiala, Bangalore or high altitude centre, Shilaru. Chandigarh, as such, has a negligible share of such camps. Moreover, the administrative control of Shilaru (HP) centre, which caters to national camps in summer, was given to NIS, Patiala in April this year for better co-ordination. Why such a centre would be opened near Patiala and with so many funds where as the centre at Patiala needs fonds for proper functioning is baffling. A centre of excellence in hockey (girls) was allotted last year to the Chandigarh centre. It was to be operational by July 1 this year, but now the trials are to be held on July 13 and 14 at hockey stadium, Sector 42. Chandigarh already had a Sports Training Centre (STC) for girls
up to 19 years at Sector 18. During the past few years, this centre has produced players like Sita Gossain, Pritam Thakran, Sandeep Kaur, Kamla Dalal and Sunit Dalal, among others. This new centre of excellence will try to perform the same functions which were being carried out well by the already existing centre, felt a senior hockey official. Now, Dr Kashyap, the Regional Director, Sports Authority of India, Northern Centre sent the letter to the Chandigarh Badminton Association regarding the starting of a centre of excellence in badminton from this academic session. But the Sports training Centre, Sector 18 for badminton and table tennis was discontinued. Earlier DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8 was announced as the new NSTC scheme centre for the disciplines of hockey, volleyball, athletics, football, rowing and gymnastics. Even the trials were held twice this year but Mr Ravinder Talwar, Principal of the school is still not sure as to how many disciplines will be finally allotted to them. Earlier four of these disciplines - hockey, football, athletics and football - were at Shivalik Public School, Sector 41 centre. Shivalik Public School (SPS) had even received letters of appreciation from the corporate office, but they received no prior information regarding the shifting of centre from their school. The school had already selected players for the hockey academy, according of Mr D.S. Bedi, Director, Principal of the school. Dr Kashyap confirms that since SPS has good infrastructure in two sports, so in hockey they had been allowed to go for this kind of academy, but there is no confirmation regarding other disciplines. Dr Kashyap also says the approval for the day boarding scheme in football for the DAV School centre has been received where as the NSTC scheme, was being reviewed. Confusion prevails as DAV school principal is not sure if the school will serve as a centre for NSTC scheme and if so for how many disciplines. SPS Principal is equally unsure if the centres have been shifted from his school or not. Moreover, two women SAI coaches in hockey and volleyball, who were with the Union Territory were transferred to Badal, the new SAI STC centre. Though they have been relieved from here yet they have not handed over the discharged officially, confirmed Dr JPS Sidhu, Joint Director, Sports, UT. Even the coaches are unwilling to join the new centre but Dr Kashyap, when asked, was adamant they would have to join the new centre. A volleyball coach, who was under the NSTC scheme at SPS, SAS Nagar was transferred to STC, Dharamsala but he took stay orders from the DG, Delhi, who had transferred him in the first place. He is now attending a junior volleyball camp at Patiala. Earlier in March this year, four coaches of Sector 42 centre were suspended — Manjit Singh (handball - Sangrur), Sonia Kumari (judo-Punjab), Parvesh (Muktsar) and DS Thakur volleyball Jubbal-Shimla owing to non-receipt of monitoring reports in time. |
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Olympic torch in Australia ULURU, (Australia), June 8 (Reuters) — A barefoot champion welcomed the 2000 Olympic torch to Australia’s Aboriginal heartland today at the start of a 100-day odyssey to begin this year’s Sydney Olympic Games. Nova Peris Kneebone, who became Australia’s first indigenous Olympic champion when she won a gold medal at hockey at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, received the torch at Uluru, formerly called Ayers Rock. The flame, lit from the rays of the Olympian sun a month ago, arrived at the massive monolith from New Zealand after a 17-day tour of the South Pacific in which it swerved past one coup d’etat and narrowly missed a second. The first of 11,000 runners in the 27,000-km relay the longest ever staged, Peris Kneebone posed proudly for photographers after receiving the torch from Cassidy, Andrew and Reggie Uluru, the brothers who are responsible for safeguarding traditional Aboriginal law at the sacred rock, and other traditional owners of the site. Peris Kneebone was delayed momentarily when the flame was twice blown out by the wind and had to be re-lit from a backup torch. Asked why she was wearing no shoes on a cold winter’s morning, she replied: “Out of respect for my people.” Dressed in white with the number 001 on her shirt, she then set off for a 500-metre (547-yard) run past the rock before passing the flame to other runners, including former tennis star Evonne Goolagong-Cawley. Peris Kneebone changed sports after the Atlanta Games and won two Commonwealth gold medals in 1998 as a sprinter. |
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Matthaus aggravates injury FREIBURG (Germany), June 8 (AFP) — Veteran German
Libero Lothar Matthaus aggravated a thigh injury in his country’s Euro 2000 warm-up friendly match with Liechtenstein and had to leave the field in the 30th minute. Matthaus, who missed the 3-2 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday because of the injury, hobbled to the sidelines yesterday and was replaced by Carsten Ramelow. A spokesman for the German Football Federation (DFB) said the move was a “precautionary measure”. Thirty-nine-year-old Matthaus, a Veteran of five World Cups, has a world record tally of 147 caps and has been struggling with the injury since a training camp in Majorca, Spain 11 days ago. He must now be a big doubt for the defending champions’ Group A opener with Romania on June 12 at Liege, Belgium. |
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